Rev. Junius Dotson, the leader of Discipleship Ministries for the United Methodist Church, will preach and teach in Western Pennsylvania on March 20 and 21. Dotson's focus is on helping local church leaders develop a system for reaching new people and growing disciples. It starts with congregations getting to know and engage with those liviving in their communities. “We’re not talking about new ways of inviting new people to your church,” said Dotson. “It requires building relationships with ...

New Jumonville President: Heather Withrow, a West Virginia native with more than 20 years experience in camping and retreat ministry, has been selected as the new President of Jumonville. Get details Plenty Good Room: Bishop Cynthia Moore-Koikoi and the Rev. Alyce Weaver Dunn, director of connectional ministries, will lead a four-week Lenten study Plenty Good Room, based on African-American spirituals. Sessions will be held each Thursday in March from 7 to 9 p.m. at Bakerstown UMC. Learn more ...

Bishop Cynthia Moore-Koikoi and the Rev. Alyce Weaver Dunn, director of connectional ministries, will lead a four-week Lenten study Plenty Good Room, based on African-American spirituals. Sessions will be held each Thursday in March from 7 to 9 p.m. at Bakerstown UMC. The short-term Bible study combines an in-depth look at Scripture, American history, and the music and lyrics of six African American spirituals. It provides biblical, social, and historical analyses of the spirituals Ev'ry Time...

The final report from the Western PA Conference's Task Force on A Way Forward was released today along with a statement from Bishop Cynthia Moore-Koikoi. The Bishop created the task force of laity and clergy to develop ways to share proposals from the denomination's Commission on A Way Forward with local church members and receive their feedback. The Commission was formed by the Council of Bishops to find a way to get past long-standing disagreements over the full inclusion of homosexuals in ...

Heather Withrow, a West Virginia native with more than 20 years experience in camping and retreat ministry, has been selected as the new President of Jumonville, our Conference camp and retreat center near Uniontown. Jeff Bees, chair of Jumonville's Board of Directors, made the announcement in an email Saturday, Jan. 26. "Heather comes to us most recently from Glacier Camp in Lakeside, Montana," the announcement read. "Originally hailing from Elkins, West Virginia, Heather answered God’s call ...

Camp on the Go! Last summer the Conference provided funding to support day camp programs through partnerships between our three camps and local churches in their region. Camp Allegheny reported on their successful effort in their recent newsletter. Read story and see video. Johnstown MLK Service: Both the Tribune-Democrat and WJAC-TV covered the NAACP’s Martin Luther King Day service hosted by Grove Ave. UMC. Chris Moore of KDKA was the keynote speaker. Read Tribune story and watch video Butler...

Several opportunities for Western PA volunteers, including young adults and youth, to serve on mission teams have been announced recently. Three opportunities are available through WPAUMC's Volunteer in Mission program. They include: Restoring Hope in Louisiana Baton Rouge, LA April 28-May 3, 2019 Most of the parishes in North and South Louisiana were slammed with up to 11 inches of rain, causing rivers to swell and thousands of homes to flood. Help us restore hope to those affected by ...

Camp On the Go! from John Zimmerman on Vimeo. Camp Allegheny's Camp On-the-Go program is looking for partner churches for Summer 2019. Last summer was the first year of the program and it went extremely well, with six different churches, primarily in the Johnstown area, partnering with Camp Allegheny to reach the young families in their community. Camp On-the-Go is a traveling Day Camp program. Camp Allegheny provides resources for every step of the process, from registration forms to parent ...

Update -- Ellwood City service cancelled Several United Methodist churches in Western PA planned to host services celebrating the life and legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on the weekend of the national holiday honoring him. Pastor Raphael Koikoi, who serves as the Upper Allegheny Valley Director of Ministry and Community Development, will be the speaker at a 4 p.m., service on Sunday, Jan. 20 at First United Methodist Church in McKeesport. It is sponsored by the Pittsburgh and ...

Pray for Zimbabwe: United Methodists in Zimbabwe request prayers for peace amid violence that has taken lives, shuttered businesses and led the government to block the Internet. Students from Carnegie-Mellon University’s Engineers without Borders group who were at The Nyadire UM Mission returned home on schedule just before the protests.The Mission and its hospital are reportedly unaffected by the unrest. Read UMNS story. 40 Days of Prayer for General Conference: Beginning Tuesday, January 15,...

Beginning January 15, 2019 -- 40 days before the special called session of the General Conference of The United Methodist Church, local church members throughout Western Pennsylvania are invited to join in praying a special prayer each day until the February 23-26 gathering in St. Louis. The following prayer was prepared by the Rev. Chris Kindle, WPAUMC Director of Discipleship, for use during the 40 Days of Prayer: p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px 'Franklin Gothic'} p.p2 ...

Confirmation Class Events: Registration will open at 9 a.m., January 15 for church leaders who want to bring their Confirmation Classes to one of our 2019 Commit events. Get details at wpaumc.org/Confirmation2019 . Olmsted Director Retiring: Jody Larson has announced that he will retire as Executive Director of Olmsted Manor this summer after 40 years of service to the retreat center. He served for 21 years as property and facilities manager and has been executive director for 19 years. Jody ...

​All laity and clergy who feel called to prayer are invited to be part of a special Conference-wide prayer initiative which began in January and will continue until the 2019 Western PA annual conference session in June. Gatherings for prayer have been scheduled at churches in five different areas around Western PA each month from January through May. An initial training session was held at the Conference Center on Jan. 5. The list of locations for January and February gatherings are listed on...

Reserved Parking Could Cost Your Church $$: Provisions In the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 require non-profit organizations to treat “transportation fringe benefit expenses” as unrelated business taxable income (UBTI) for 2018. The IRS issued guidance on the issue on Dec. 10, 2018 and the UMC General Council on Finance Administration (GCFA) followed up with a white paper that includes answers to frequently asked questions and instructions for churches to assess their own situations. Learn ...

Bishop Calls for Prayer: After spending time in Central Africa with five other United Methodist bishops meeting church and government leaders last month, Bishop Cynthia Moore-Koikoi called for a Day of Prayer for the people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo on Dec. 23, the day set for a long-delayed presidential election there. Learn more Clergy Health Insurance Rate: Thanks to the efforts by the Conference Board of Pensions and Health Benefits, the 2019 rate local churches will be billed...